5 Tech o-line notes

A bit late in the week, but comments from offensive line coach Mike Sewak:

1. He was very pleased with right guard Shaquille Mason’s performance against Wofford, saying he was strong technically, creating movement at the line of scrimmage, advancing to the linebacker level and “coming off the ball and putting people on their backs.”

Mason was credited with putting a team-high 12 defenders to the ground, out of 57 for the team.

“You can tell he’s worked real hard,” Sewak said.

2. Likewise, right tackle Chris Griffin, who was next to Mason, “played really well with some of the combo blocks, with pass protection. They did a nice job with their footwork, cutting people off on the back side,” Sewak said.

As for center Freddie Burden, “I was pleasantly surprised with Freddie,” Sewak said. “He was in a competitive situation. He didn’t always do right, but there was a little bit more fight in him than I had seen in the past. I think he had that nervous energy about him.”

Sewak added that Burden played well against the starting nose tackle, and then adjusted his game when a backup came in and continued to maintain an advantage in leverage. Both Burden and Griffin made their first career starts in their first career games.

Johnson also was complimentary of Griffin and Burden, saying “both probably played as good or better than some of the guys who’ve played.”

3. Left guard Trey Braun and left tackle Bryan Chamberlain “still need some work,” Sewak said. “I thought they did some good things at times.” B-back Zach Laskey ran behind them for the game’s opening touchdown.

Sewak said the team “needed more than we got from them” when they were at the point of attack.

4. Sewak said he was “very disappointed” not to be able to play any second-team linemen. Coach Paul Johnson said at least some of the second string will get into the Tulane game, and that center Andrew Marshall “might be the one freshman who probably does play this week.” Other freshmen on the No. 2 line are tackle Trey Klock and guard Shamire Devine.

“They eat up more space,” he said. He liked ends Royce LaFrance and Tyler Gilbert and linebacker Nico Marley (whose father Rohan played for Miami and whose grandfather was Bob Marley).

The defense is apt to shift around pre-snap, he said, “so you have to rely on your rules and take a good first step and read and react to how the defense unfolds.”

Coaches weren’t sure of how Tulane will line up defensively, as occasionally happens with Tech opponents. Typically, the opposing defensive coordinator is someone Johnson has faced before, or he has played against a similar offense, such as Navy or Air Force, which gives coaches an idea of how the defense will line up.

Johnson and Sewak had both faced Wofford and coach Mike Ayers when both were at Georgia Southern. Sewak said he and Johnson thought Wofford would start out with one particular look and then switch to another, “and we were very close on both of those assumptions.”

There was no such history with Tulane defensive coordinators Lionel Washington and Jon Sumrall. Coaches looked for clues within the option plays that Rice, UT-San Antonio and Louisiana-Lafayette ran against the Green Wave last season.

“This is a completely new group,” Sewak said. “I’d like to say, ‘Hey, they’re going to line up exactly like this,’ but I think we have to prepare for four different defenses.”

Just read an interesting comment by Johnson in which he said we never ran the actual triple option last week. Wofford's defense was such that it wasn't going to work, so he used other weapons in the arsenal, namely, obviously, the passing game.

Our offensive line will be fine. We have a good mix of talented veterans and freshmen this year and we have managed to stay healthy. I too wish the backups would have gotten more playing time against Wofford though. Im eager to see what Shamire Devine can do.

I watched the replay on FSS the other night. I wasn't impressed with much that went on and think it is going to be a very long year for the jackets sadly. One highlight is Smelter. Kidd can play but was a baseball convert I think.

I think that Wofford played assignment defense really well. The line looked a little sluggish to me. The blocking wasn't the best as times. It seems like it took a half for everyone to get into game mode. Not sure why. Hopefully, they have things figured out and we can play a solid game at Tulane. Go Jackets!!

Sewak said he was “very disappointed” not to be able to play any second-team linemen. Coach Paul Johnson said at least some of the second string will get into the Tulane game, and that center Andrew Marshall “might be the one freshman who probably does play this week.” Other freshmen on the No. 2 line are tackle Trey Klock and guard Shamire Devine.

I really don't understand the logic here.. Maybe I am missing something... If your 2nd stringers didn't get in against Wofford, then something is amiss..... IMHO...

@Jmonty Wofford was a well coached team... I was really surprised as to how well Wofford's OL got good leverage coming off the ball. Their front line was generally standing our DL lineman up a big part of the game.. Matter of fact Gotsis, who I would rate as one of the better athletes we have on the defensive side, was totally blown out ... Matter of fact, in one instance Gotsis was pancaked by the Wofford Offensive tackle.. Hopefully he will not underestimate this weeks opponents...

@Birmingham__Jacket I disagree, but why would a good team try when Wofford is putting 8-9 guys in the box to stop the dive? If they are going to try taking away the middle, going outside seems like a better strategy then pounding the middle to prove a point.

@GTBob@twelveofthirteen Pass defense will be an issue Saturday. Pass offense will continue to be an issue. QB can throw just not on target. O line looks average again like last year. D line opened up some big holes against Wofford.

If I am wrong after the next two or three games (including Va Tech) I will be the first to admit it Bob.

Nah. I'm not quite as belligerent. But it is impressive how a program whose traditional emphasis has been academics, has made its way onto the college football landscape to compete with the football factories. Stanford just decided football was important.

Georgia Tech could do almost the same if it really wanted to--- and actually cared.

I say "almost". Stanford is private and has more latitude than GT in its admissions, of course.

@GeorgeStein@forexbomb George, as a student of the game... anytime your opponent gets leverage, or gets under your pads, its NOT good... Gotsis is one of our best.. I'm not saying that he should have dominated every play, but to be pancaked is not good from a defensive lineman's stand point... Their front guys constantly had leverage, for a lot of the game.. That's NOT good...

@Birmingham__Jacket Stanford didn't "just" decide that football was important, they just hit a homerun with the Jim Harbaugh hire after striking out on Buddy Teevens and then Walt Harris. Saying that the school who sent Bill Walsh and Dennis Green to the NFL and Tyrone Willingham to Notre Dame "just" decided football was important is an extreme oversimplification of the situation.

@Birmingham__Jacket Damn, you started off good and then you killed everything with that same lame excuse about more academic latitude... Come on Birmingham.,,, this academic EXCUSE is getting old... There is NO reason GT can't be as successful... NONE.

@Birmingham__Jacket Being "private" makes all the difference in the world. GT's problem is not the difficulty of its curriculum, its the narrowness. GT is hamstrung by the Board of Regents and the Legislature, both controlled by UGA guys.

@forexbomb@Birmingham__Jacket BORING! the tax code won't get changed, sickcare will, like everything else in this country, pander to corporate $, & Army-Navy-Air Force...& GT will be the ONLY BCS schools that have EVERY student take at least some math! like bomb says, gotta be something you can do with smarter players-Stanford had a smarter coach, as did Vandy, we'll see how they do now; my Q is, did Army & Navy get the coaches that made cpj successful.......

Those are untruths that are pandered among Tech Nation as excuses. The BORs does NOT limit Georgia Tech's curriculum in order to maintain a UGA "edge" in football. UGA is FAR from needing an "edge" over Tech in recruiting. Always has been, alway will, even if our curriculum was changed.

The Chief Nerds at Georgia Tech that want to be MIT and don't want Joe Blow with a 2.8 high school GPA and a 780 SAT to get a Georgia Tech diploma do.

Even if the BOR's did limit the curriculum, any program that is serious about football would not let that get in the way--- and would "work around" academic obstacles.

@twelveofthirteen He threw one bad long pass that almost got Perkins killed. Other than that im not sure what you are talking about. Im not sure how you got such an accurate read on our pass defense when Wofford only had one pass that was over 6 yards last weekend. They had less than half as many receiving yards as Smelter did alone.

@GeorgeStein@forexbomb No he didn't get dominated the whole game... I believe he will be motivated enough to get better because of this game.

Yes, they have gap responsibility, but that's only a small part of their responsibility... The linebackers are really there to make the plays.. A good example of a total break down was the touchdown for Wofford.. and the leverage that their OL had on our interior lineman.. They were moved out of their respective gaps, and of course the linebackers were either blocked or were sucked in to the wrong gaps... It was great to watch.. Just gotta love this game.....

It was more the schedule that made CPJ successful at Navy.. Yes he played some exceptions, but for the most part the schedule was very friendly to CPJ... Kinda scary that the schedule is getting that way at GT.

@Birmingham__Jacket "Even if the BOR's did limit the curriculum, any program that is serious about football would not let that get in the way--- and would "work around" academic obstacles."

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Just curious what you meant by "work around" academic obstacles. I am assuming that since you put it in quotation marks for emphasis, that you are suggesting we break the rules . If not, then what exactly are you saying?

@SupersizeThatOrder-mutt@twelveofthirteen I guess as I said earlier only time will tell. One game and we agree to disagree. Bad first half and good second half. Lets see which plays out more this season of the two and remember who you were playing last week.

@forexbomb On that play, he did fine. I think the mistake was made by Golden. Green got double-teamed, if I recall correctly, and Gotsis had B-gap responsibility, which he filled. Nealy needed to get off his block and Golden needed to help finish off the tackle.

@forexbomb@juvenal@Birmingham__Jacket Navy still fine with one of cpj's assistants, GaSo did well with another assist. coach now at Army ( & we have not done as well since he left us to go there)...sorry to grammernazis, coaches WHO

@twelveofthirteen According to UGA fans right now UGA is going to win the National Championship without losing a game and Tech is going to go 1-11. Forgive me if I don't take your fan base all that seriously.

@GeorgeStein@forexbomb and if the play gets to Golden, a DB, then our defense at the point of attack has totally failed.. Yes Golden should have saved the touchdown, but the fault is with our interior line and linebackers.. If we could all get together and watch the tape, we could dissect the play properly... lol.

@SupersizeThatOrder-mutt@twelveofthirteen Correct but he should have. Clemson's D line is/was supposed to be one of the best in the nation with 4 returning starters and big Vic. However, if you read some of my posts leading up to the game with UGA all I ever said was the Clemson D was not the strength of that team last year that won the Orange bowl no matter what the media said. It was their offense that led them. If they were going to beat UGA in 2014 their offense would have to be really good again because we would score a lot. Their offense isn't and their D was the same if not less in that game.

@GeorgeStein@forexbomb Nealy, Davis, and Golden all seemed to bomb on that play which makes me wonder if it was just a poor scheme to call on that particular play. Golden and Davis were both drifting left for some unknown reason. I don't think either of them even touched anybody on the play.